Good night, sweet prince

It is with heavy heart I share the news that my sister and her family had to help their beloved Thor cross over the bridge last night.

Thor was 8 years old and his illness came on suddenly and dramatically. They discovered last night that he had a tumor near his heart and it had ruptured filling him with blood.

He died peacefully in the arms of his family and surrounded by their love.

Thor was the biggest, dopiest, sweetest goofball I have ever had the pleasure to know. He was a leaner and a cuddler who wanted nothing more than a pat on the head and a pillow to snuggle on.

Thor made an appearance or two here on the blog. I thought for sure he would make many more in time...

From my sister, Donna: "He is already deeply missed."

He is indeed.

He was so little once...

And such a good boy.

Taking on the big dogs...

And then he was the big dog.

"Good night, sweet prince. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."

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My sister is a regular visitor here so she will see any messages of condolence you care to leave. But I will also gather them up into a card to give to her as a keepsake. Thank you.

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I believe in dog.

Running behind and no time has become my standard state of affairs these days. So I thought I'd share something I wrote recently in response to a blog post over at Dogster.com. The post posed the question "Are dogs the new kids?"

Personally, I don't view my dogs as my children. Yes, I light-heartedly call myself mommy and refer to Jan as daddy but I don't honestly think Bella is my child. You might even still catch me using the word "owner" in relation to my dogs although I don't really believe one can 'own' a living being.

But not thinking my dog is a child does not, in any way, diminish her worth in my eyes. Dogs are dogs and children are children and each life has value intrinsic to itself. In fact, and here's what I wanted to share:

I believe dogs are a representation of just about every human relationship we will ever know.

As puppies, they are like children: in need of our care, our guidance, our support.

As they mature, they become more like our partners and spouses: someone we have chosen to share our life with through good times and bad, accepting them for all their faults and foibles.

And finally, as they age, they begin to represent our parents: we learn to come to terms with watching them lose their vitality and cope with their failing health. We begin to prepare ourselves for loss and a life without them.

No, my dog is not my child. But she's none the-less for being my dog.

For those of you in the know, yes, this image has been altered to protect the not exactly innocent.
Let's keep that our little secret, okay?

Sort of Wordless Wednesday 51 - Young Thor

Pay no attention to the dorky human in the picture. Just feast your eyes on my dog-nephew, Thor, when he was just a pup.

He's a little bigger now. ;)

Happy Wednesday!

Wordless Wednesday 18 - Thor's cushions

I had a different picture planned for today but recently received this in an email from my sister. Apparently her Bull Mastiff*, Thor, didn't appreciate how she had the cushions laid out and decided to, shall we say, 're-decorate' according to his needs.

I love this big guy! (Bella, however, does not so we have wisely chosen to limit their interactions since Thor has about 70 lbs on Bella and probably wouldn't be as gracious as Gus in her ill treatment of him.)

* Donna, did I finally get it right - Bull Mastiff, not English, yes?